Creation Finance error leading to damage to credit rep.... can I sue?

[noasark]

In short.... On or about October 2012 I purchased furniture on 0% finance to be paid for in 24 equal installments of £28 over a 2 year period. The first payment went out in Nov 2012 and there was no missed payments or indeed any issues until Feb/Mar 2014.

 

In January 2014 I purchased through Currys, a Fridge Freezer and a Tumble Dryer (again on credit) to be paid back in 10 equal installments of £50.10. Due to some error my initial payment for the Fridge etc did not go out and I received a letter stating that I had missed a payment. I duly phoned the company paid the outstanding amount and set up a DD. It seems at this point, an error was made and changes were effected which led to the previously arranged £28 payment to start redirecting to the wrong account. The £28 payments continued to go out of my account every month, so understandably I was blissfully unaware that there was an issue. It seems that instead of clearing the furniture account, this money was now going into the Fridge account. As a result the Fridge finance was cleared in 7 months (instead of 10) and the other account was accumulating arrears.

 

The company did not at any stage contact me via email, letter, phone, text or indeed any way at all, to advise me that there was a problem on my account. If they had, it would have been plain to see that a) I had been making the payments and b) that these payments had been posted to the wrong account. If the company did this or applied due diligence to their own accounts management, this problem would have been easily identified and rectified.

 

I did not in fact find out that there was a problem until I was refused two credid card applications that I had made on line. At first I thought it was because I was 'too good' if this makes sense..... because I am the kind of person to actually pay off my Cr. cards in full to avoid interest... when I was refused the second time however, I became concerned so I obtained a credit report (at my own expense) and was horrified to see that not only did the report show me as being delinquent for 6 months, but I was now judge 'very poor'.,.. this has and will make it impossible for me to obtain any credit..... my credit reputation is now ruined, and it has been due, in its entirety to a completely avoidable error of the consumer finance company.

 

As soon as I found out about this I contacted the company, explained what had happened and asked them to correct the accounts... reverse any referral charges and correct my credit file... Their response was completely unhelpful and unsympathetic... despite my attempts to explain what had happened they insisted that I now contact the collection agency because the account has now been passed to them. I am furious... no phonecalls, letters, emails... their error and now I have to contact these undesireable people to fight my corner and perhaps have them hunt me down for money that I have already paid?

 

Can you please advise if I have a case, and how I might proceed with the matter. I have also lodged a complaint with the FS Ombudsman, but I am so upset at how their personnel have treated this situation that I am now inclined to want to go further.

[Andyorch]

Thread moved to the appropriate forum.

 

Regards

 

Andy

[ericsbrother]

was it an error by you, the bank or one of the finance companies you were paying?

[noasark]

The error which led to the defaulted payments was by the finance company.... the money was being directed to the wrong account for 6 months, resulting in one account being cleared 3 months early and the other being in default... but what is worse I feel is the fact that they did not notify me of the shortfall... if they had it would have been easily rectified and my credit file would not have been affected.

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

In short.... On or about October 2012 I purchased furniture on 0% finance to be paid for in 24 equal installments of £28 over a 2 year period. The first payment went out in Nov 2012 and there was no missed payments or indeed any issues until Feb/Mar 2014.

 

In January 2014 I purchased through Currys, a Fridge Freezer and a Tumble Dryer (again on credit) to be paid back in 10 equal installments of £50.10. Due to some error my initial payment for the Fridge etc did not go out and I received a letter stating that I had missed a payment. I duly phoned the company paid the outstanding amount and set up a DD. It seems at this point, an error was made and changes were effected which led to the previously arranged £28 payment to start redirecting to the wrong account. The £28 payments continued to go out of my account every month, so understandably I was blissfully unaware that there was an issue. It seems that instead of clearing the furniture account, this money was now going into the Fridge account. As a result the Fridge finance was cleared in 7 months (instead of 10) and the other account was accumulating arrears.

 

The company did not at any stage contact me via email, letter, phone, text or indeed any way at all, to advise me that there was a problem on my account. If they had, it would have been plain to see that a) I had been making the payments and b) that these payments had been posted to the wrong account. If the company did this or applied due diligence to their own accounts management, this problem would have been easily identified and rectified.

 

I did not in fact find out that there was a problem until I was refused two credid card applications that I had made on line. At first I thought it was because I was 'too good' if this makes sense..... because I am the kind of person to actually pay off my Cr. cards in full to avoid interest... when I was refused the second time however, I became concerned so I obtained a credit report (at my own expense) and was horrified to see that not only did the report show me as being delinquent for 6 months, but I was now judge 'very poor'.,.. this has and will make it impossible for me to obtain any credit..... my credit reputation is now ruined, and it has been due, in its entirety to a completely avoidable error of the consumer finance company.

 

As soon as I found out about this I contacted the company, explained what had happened and asked them to correct the accounts... reverse any referral charges and correct my credit file... Their response was completely unhelpful and unsympathetic... despite my attempts to explain what had happened they insisted that I now contact the collection agency because the account has now been passed to them. I am furious... no phonecalls, letters, emails... their error and now I have to contact these undesireable people to fight my corner and perhaps have them hunt me down for money that I have already paid?

 

Can you please advise if I have a case, and how I might proceed with the matter. I have also lodged a complaint with the FS Ombudsman, but I am so upset at how their personnel have treated this situation that I am now inclined to want to go further.

 

 

 

You need to make a formal complaint to the finance company.

 

 

Layout clearly what has happened and what the consequences of the " mistakes" in allocating payments to the correct accounts.

 

 

State what you require the finance company to do to rectify the problem including removal of all adverse data from credit files.

 

 

I f the response is inadequate/unacceptable then you can complain to the Ombudsman.